Travelling may sound simple to many but wait until you become a parent and you need to travel with your baby or toddler or both with you along with the heavy luggage and other necessary infant/kiddie trappings and paraphernalia, minus the Yaya. This is like an extra challenge, travelling with kids is a skill one acquires through practice. Every Christmas and New Year, the momentous holiday of them all, my little family gets to choose between travel by air to get to the southeastern portion of Mindanao to spend vacation with DB’s family or travel by land for 8-10 hours to get to the northern part of Luzon to spend holidays with my parents and relatives or we come over a split-decision, we do both, land and air, we jump from 1 trip to another and this is when the travelling and packing gets a little bit awry.
Since the Christmas holiday is immediately followed by New Year celebrations, I nearly have time to pack and re-pack clothes considering we spend an average of 4-5 days in each of our parent’s home. If you have a bounty supply of wardrobe, then this is not a problem, you may prepare a separate luggage for the next trip. However if you are like me, I seldom buy clothes for myself and the rest of the pack, hence, we have limited clothes supply and selection, then double time is required.
Here are some simple learnings:
1. List. Come up with a list of things to bring, from clothes down to miscellaneous items; essentials for me include paracetamol, small toys, cell phone charger, off lotion, batteries, snacks, bottled water, wet wipes and a book.
2. Wardrobe schedule. This minimizes the number of clothes going into the luggage per person. Before, I was accustomed to bringing too many pairs of socks and underwear for the children that end up unused. Think of all the additional weight this has contributed to the baggage and the amount of human exertion required to drag it; it’s just not worth it, not to mention the possibility of paying for an excess baggage. I always bring though an extra shirt for each of us in case there is no way for me to do laundry.
3. Bag limitation. If you can, travel with 2 baggage only and bring a utilitarian handbag as the 3rd bag which you hand carry or strap to yourself. The 1st big luggage contains all the clothes, the 2nd smaller luggage for all the other non-clothes items and the 3rd small bag is for the money and meds and essential documents. This is relative however, in a family of 4 like us, I managed to pack all our things in 3 bags (the 3rd bag is my handbag) for a 4-5 day vacation. I almost forgot an additional carriage, the stroller which can be a little trouble when you’re not used to folding and dragging it around.
4. Simple packed food (eg. boiled eggs, cup noodles, tetra pack juice and chocolate drinks, apples, banana). During land travel, since I do not have time to cook packed food, and consider it a bother to eat packed lunches when you have small children, we eat at stopovers. If you have reservations about feeding your child with stopover meals, then you may find solution with boiled eggs and cup noodles.
5. Diversion. During air travel, it is really helpful to feed your baby/toddler with bottled milk or let her browse the magazine to take her mind off the change of pressure in her ears.
6. Diaper again. While travelling, when your child is not yet fully diaper-free, this is the time to let her wear one again compared to the hassle of letting her use the public CR or the tiny CR on the plane.
7. Essentials. Water is important though there is limitation with the amount you are allowed to hand-carry when you board a plane depending on the airport. Small toys and books can be tossed in your handbag and can save the day of a bored kid.
8. Small talk. Inform your children about the length and type of travel and what to expect, this way you would be spared from the relentless question “Are we there yet?’
9. Little prayer. Pray for safety and protection with your family before the actual trip.
There you go, happy travelling!
vivi, ama e ridi,
Gangstah Mum
